


Malicious

by AwokenMonster



Category: Are You The One? (Season 8), Are you the one?
Genre: Darker than my usual AYTO fics, HAPPY END THOUGH YAY, Love gone wrong, M/M, Malicious!Max, bad break, post-AYTO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 09:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20273926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwokenMonster/pseuds/AwokenMonster
Summary: There was a malicious laugh that made Justin wince before Max spoke again: “Get used to it, asshole, you’re gonna get to relive our reality tv shitshow of a relationship. Talk to me. We can’t spoil that it ended badly and if we keep ignoring each other, then that’s exactly what they’re gonna think.”Justin rolled his eyes. He couldn’t care less about what people thought of him and Max’ current relationship status.‘What relationship status?’ Justin bitterly thought. His current relationship status with Max would probably be; “Saw Max’ face today and dreamt of ripping his heart out.”orMax has a scary way of dealing with this break-up and Justin's sufferingMax/JustinRated T for the show's nature and excessive swearing





	Malicious

**Author's Note:**

> Monster: Hi guys! This is a goddamn vent about a lot of things. Mainly the Max/Amber kiss in the "preview" (lots of recycled material) of the last 3 episodes. I'm not sure if that was a recycled scene or a foreboding message but at this point in the timeline, it's SO out of character for Max to be all lovey dovey with Amber that if I wrote him with Amber into a fic, you guys would call me out for making Max OOC... So for fuck's sake, let that scene be a recycled scene before Jax happened and not one that has yet to come.  
And finally; when the show started and I saw the pictures of the cast members, I immediately went "Max is cute. Max is fucking life. I love Max. Max is gonna be my boi and Im gonna fanboy, meaning I will defend his every crime and stay by his side even when he's in the wrong". I'm still pretty much siding with Max no matter what - except if the Amber/Max thing was a preview cause then Imma be annoyed. Enjoy
> 
> Warning: Please be aware of the fact that I wrote Max to be a malicious, bad person in this fic as a way to deal with the crap he's going through. I know that Max is in reality a gooey insecure sweetheart ^-^

Justin could feel the hairs on his skin rise when he looked at his phone. He’d been feeling okay lately until his phone rang and he just _had_ to pick it up to look at the caller id. He already regretted looking at his screen.

He wanted it to keep ringing, go over into voicemail because he really didn’t feel like picking up. He didn’t want to hear anything. He just wanted some _peace of mind_. Just relax and not have this anxious feeling inside when he saw who was trying to reach him.

_Caller ID: Max Gentile_

How did it end up this way? He had seen the last episode on tv, like the entire cast of the eighth season. It contained the first impressions of what would be Jax in the future. Fans were already loving how Max picked Justin for the matchup unexpectedly. It was the first few steps of what would become a heated romance on a reality show. He never thought he would be _that_ celebrity. Hell, he’d never even thought he’d be somewhat famous altogether! Recognized in the streets. It was a crazy idea. If his past self had told him he’d become an MTV icon, he would’ve told him he was insane.

His phone buzzed and he checked the notification. Shit, Max left a voicemail. Justin knew he should just delete it and not listen to it, but what can he say? He felt weak when he listened to it. The familiar voice still took his breath away; “Hey babe, soon Jax is gonna be all over the AYTO tag so I guess we’ll just haaaave to get back together, right?_”_

There was a malicious laugh that made Justin wince before Max spoke again: “Get used to it, asshole, you’re gonna get to relive our reality tv shitshow of a relationship. Talk to me. We can’t spoil that it ended badly and if we keep ignoring each other, then that’s exactly what they’re gonna think.”

Justin rolled his eyes. He couldn’t care less about what people thought of him and Max’ current relationship status.

‘What relationship status?’ Justin bitterly thought. His current relationship status with Max would probably be; “Saw Max’ face today and dreamt of ripping his heart out.”

Actually, he’d be lying. If he was being honest with himself, the status would be; “Still hung up on that asshole”.

Who would’ve known, right? Ever so ‘possessive’ (not really) innocent puppy Max who didn’t want anyone but Justin in the house _fucked up_ _Jax_? Gasp! No way. Justin must’ve fucked up. Max would definitely be the one to get hurt in that relationship, right? Justin didn’t realize he’d sunk deeper into a murderous scowl, staring at the screen. How dare he call Justin just to tell him they should rekindle the Jax from the show just for the fans? What the hell.

When did he ever try to be what people expected him to be? Kinda ironic when you’re bi, you know… Especially coming from Max! Damnit.

Justin released his grip on his phone, not realizing he’d been holding it so tightly the colour drained out of his knuckles. He couldn’t do this.

But he had to.

Act normal until the show’s done airing, he thought to himself. That’s only what? A few months, right? Just pretend.

_Pretend you get along with Max_.

No, he didn’t just have to pretend he got along with Max. He had to pretend he was still all flirty with Max. It would prove to be rather difficult. But he had to.

He really didn’t have to but the side of him that still remembered the sweet, loving Max from the first few weeks, made him want to forgive and forget a lot easier. Even if the forgive and forget was only for a few weeks.

It couldn’t hurt, right?

He groaned to himself and called Max back.

“Heeeey babe.”

“Don’t call me that”, Justin bit.

Max chuckled. “Who crapped in your cornflakes this morning?”

When did Max become so…_evil?_ He’d been so sweet, so soft… so gooey inside and Justin had fallen in love with him, but this side? This was a side he didn’t recognize. It was so mean, so malicious, so borderline insane and so unsettling to see Max shift into a bad person like this.

“Fuck off, Max. I don’t get you. You’ve done everything in your power to make me miserable and yet you’re still delivering the punches here. Do you feel no remorse at all?” Justin grumbled.

“Awe, boo you”, Max cooed. “Whatever. I don’t care. Fans are gonna notice Jax soon and we need to make sure we don’t spoil the fact we don’t talk anymore so we need to act the way we did in the house to throw them off.”

“Cuddle all the time?” Justin frowned.

He could tell Max took his time to roll his eyes. At least, if he still knew him well enough to guess right. “No, I mean, TALK. With some stupid flirts here and there. I know you’re a flirt so it won’t be that hard for you to pull off.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“You’re just mad cause we weren’t a match and I moved on faster than you did”, Max shot and Justin just ended the call… damn Max for having this effect on him, still. He hated this. He hated to remember the thing they had back on Hawaii and most of all, he hated the bullshit Max kept spewing at him.

He had already broken his heart, why did he have to keep kicking him? It wasn’t gonna be easy to pretend to be all happy like they were on the show, but to hell with it. Justin wasn’t gonna give Max the satisfaction of seeing him upset again. He’d become a master in construction cause he was gonna build walls like it were his occupation, damn it. Not again.

***

“Hey”, Justin texted, neutral and simple. He didn’t really expect the other to reply in a civil way. The Jax had finally kicked in and their tags had been blowing up on Twitter with questions about if they were still together – obviously not but they weren’t allowed to answer that. Asking who topped and who bottomed – why did everyone always wanna know? The most offensive thing he had received so far had been “Who’s the woman in the relationship?”. Like fuck off, do you ask a vegetarian which part of their salad resembles the meat too? The whole point of a male-to-male relationship is that there is no woman in the relationship, for God’s sake.

Other than some stupid questions like that, it had stung to see all of the support and hopeful messages to see them end up as a perfect match – obviously they weren’t.

Max wasn’t making it any easier being so hostile all the time in private messages.

“What?” Max texted back and Justin could sense this wasn’t gonna be a fun conversation about Jax so he pursed his lips and forced himself to put away his phone and just have fun in London for now. He’d do another IG Live soon and it was inevitable that he’d have to invite Max again so he really had to mentally prepare himself for that bullshit.

At least Max was a nice guy on the live. He seemed genuinely the happy Max Justin used to know, but as soon as no one was watching, he slipped back into his hate-filled persona. That was probably the hardest part of it all.

It was like watching a shapeshifter. Justin didn’t know what more he could take from him, but he had to stick it out until the end. Just a few more weeks and Jax would get killed on tv, but then he had to relive his entire heartbreak again. He really didn’t wanna see those episodes again. Fuck that.

***

It had been surprisingly okay to pretend to get along with Max so far. They were a few weeks into the show now, Jax going all the way on tv. The house didn’t believe in the ship but the fans on Instagram and Twitter were adamant about them being a perfect match. The Jaxnation was vicious, making edits and writing fanfictions about him and Max together.

He had never expected the fandom of his former relationship to be this strong together. It was bigger than any of the other couples’ fans. Stronger than Kyari and stronger than Raige. The thought of that kinda made it only sadder the relationship didn’t work out, didn’t it? The next week’s episode everyone would find out Jax wasn’t a match and Max would move on seamlessly to Amber. Hell, you could even see it in the previews of the last three episodes.

Justin still couldn’t wrap his mind around how exactly it happened. How did they move on from falling in love, cute and together forever, to Max going all the way for Amber instead. It was mind-blowing to see him turn all the way around like that. At first Justin had told him it was Max pushing him away again because he was afraid, like he had the first time they tried to pursue the connection between them but Max seemed to have turned sour, treating Justin like he’d been nothing to him.

Justin had only been his toy in the house, but like all kids Max didn’t want anyone else to play with his toy so he’d been possessive. That was what Justin told himself to explain what happened. If that wasn’t the case than he had no fucking clue WHY Max changed his mind so quickly. He had thought that what they had, was real.

Shit, he cursed himself for feeling upset all over again. This show fucked him up so bad. He was probably worse off than before the show when it came to his love life. After what Max did, he wasn’t sure when he would trust anyone again. And to be honest, he found himself comparing everyone to Max. Wasn’t very helpful to get over him either. After all these months. God, he hated that he wasn’t over Max still.

It was early in the morning when Justin rolled out of bed. He’d had a terrible night with more dreams about that cursed house in Hawaii. It was futile to stay in bed so he decided to just get up and have a long day instead.

He checked his phone, finding a voicemail notification.

From Max?

Justin blinked. He had spoken to Max on the IG Live last time but not since then. What would this be about? He kinda figured the pretend of still talking to each other was over now that their “relationship” was about to blow next week on the episode. He listened to the voicemail with a frown; it was hard to distinguish what Max was saying because of the loud background but after the fifth listen, he finally thought he caught the main message: “I’m sorry- I was really upset and dunno, being the bad guy is easier when you don’t wanna show the pain I guess.”

That was it. No explanation what Max was talking about. If it hadn’t been for the lack of someone replying to that, Justin would’ve thought Max had pocket-dialled him at some stupid rave but no, it seemed like Max really left the voicemail on purpose. Though he didn’t sound _that _sober. He tried calling Max back but it took so long that Justin figured Max was still asleep. Though before it switched to voicemail, Max picked up the phone. “What?”

He sounded groggy. “Did I wake you?”

“Yeah, make it quick.”

“You left me a voicemail?”

“I did not”, Max objected.

Justin grimaced to himself, quietly praying for the strength not to kill Max sometimes. “Yes, you did. You said you were sorry because you were upset and being bad was easier than showing pain? Like it didn’t make much sense but you seemed pretty serious”, Justin argued.

There was a lengthy silence on the other end of the line, followed by a hushed ‘_shit_’.

“I went out last night. Guess you really call your exes when you’re drunk”, Max awkwardly chuckled but Justin could sense it was fake. “Max.”

“Justin”, Max replied in the same serious voice. “You think calling my name has any effect on me?”

“Babe”, Justin called, instantly realizing his mistake. Shit, he hadn’t even called Max anything like that since the house!

Max snorted. “Don’t call me that. You’re just mad I moved on to Amber more quickly than you would’ve moved on to her! I _knew_ you were gonna jump into someone new as soon as we were a confirmed no match. Fuck you.”

Justin widened his eyes. “Wait, you thought _I_ was gonna jump into someone new right away? For fuck’s sake, Max, I’m _still_ in love with you after all these months. I haven’t even dated anyone since I got home because you’ve been on my fucking mind and you wanna complain about me moving on? No, fuck you!”

There was a pause before Max seemed to have lost his malicious attitude and carefully said: “Y-you still love me?”

Justin shrugged, knowing Max couldn’t see. “It doesn’t matter. You clearly moved on. Bye, Max.”

He was about to end the call when Max called out “Wait.”

“What?”

Max sighed. There was some background noise indicating he was shifting his position. “I-… I didn’t move on, really. But I jumped into the next thing I could think of to prevent feeling anything about our forced break. Like, I spent nine weeks falling in love with you and thinking we were so perfect, being jealous of anyone who would try to take you from me. If you were no longer tied to me, I’d have to watch you do much more than just make out with people for fun. I’d have to watch you make a real connection. Soo I guess I wanted to be the first to do that to you instead”, Max burst out so quickly that Justin squinted his eyes to hear all the words – why do people even do that?

Justin had no clue what to respond to that but Max wasn’t done. “That’s probably what the voicemail was about. I found it easier to be the bad guy than to hurt myself again. I’m sorry.”

The silence that followed was so long that Justin thought the conversation had ended due to inactivity on either side of the line, but Max’ quiet sigh told him otherwise. “You’ve been so mean to me, rubbing it in and calling me out over little things. You’ve been laughing at my pain, mocking me. Why?”

Max hummed. “It’s easier to be mean than to be real…”

Justin thought back of his memories of Max in the past few months. All of the mean things he said, all of the pain, all of the bad that made him miserable. Had it all been an act orchestrated by the walls Max had pulled up after his heart broke in the house?

“So… I wasn’t just your plaything in the house?” Justin asked.

“Bro, I still love you to this day and it’s been crazy hard to get over you. Still haven’t succeeded”, Max scoffed.

“What about Amber?” Justin asked. “Your perfect match after all.”

“Saw her again a while ago… It was kinda weird. Not the kind of chemistry I had with you.”

“Our relationship is a shitshow. No wonder we’re not a perfect match”, Justin noticed and Max finally laughed at that. Not the malicious one he had gotten used to, not the one to mock his pain, but a genuine one. One he hadn’t heard in months.  
It was strange how that familiar sound seemed to lift a burden from his shoulders. _His _Max was finally back.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment, they're our heavy fuel.
> 
> I'm going through bad times right now and Jax has literally been the one thing to cheer me up. When I'm going all pro-Jax and writing fics about them, I forget about the shitshow that's my real life right now so yeaaaah, forgive me if I'm shipping hard.
> 
> I feel like I'm gonna regret posting this fic in the morning, especially since I'm aware those kings have browsed my stuff before... Definitely not my proudest work but again, it's a bit of a vent fic.


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